Trump admin sent chilling message about what's 'next on the chopping block': union head

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education is moving out of its Lyndon B. Johnson headquarters building, the department announced Thursday, in another step toward dismantling the agency.

The Education Department said its “chronically underutilized” building is roughly 70% vacant and estimated the relocation — slated for August — would save taxpayers approximately $4.8 million a year in operating costs.

The move marks the latest action from President Donald Trump’s administration to do away with the 46-year-old department as part of the president’s quest to send education “back to the states.” Much of the oversight and funding of schools already occurs at the state and local levels.

The Education Department will move roughly one block away to a building the U.S. Agency for International Development previously occupied.

The Department of Energy will move out of its James V. Forrestal building nearby and take over Education’s headquarters building.

“Thanks to the hard work of so many, we have made unprecedented progress in reducing the federal education footprint, and now we are pleased to give this building to an agency that will benefit far more from its space than the Department of Education,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.

‘Next on the chopping block’

Rep. Bobby Scott, ranking member of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, rebuked the relocation efforts as “one of the most overt actions by Secretary McMahon to dismantle the Department of Education (ED) and disregard the law, federal courts, and Congress.”

“Leaving the Lyndon B. Johnson headquarters building does not cut bureaucracy — it rearranges it,” the Virginia Democrat added. “This decision to close the Department’s physical building is not just a symbolic move — it reflects a broader effort to reduce the federal government’s role in ensuring people have equal access to a quality education.”

Rachel Gittleman, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, which represents Education Department workers, blasted the announcement in a Thursday statement.

“The message the Secretary’s announcement sends to our staff and the American public is clear — education is next on the chopping block,” Gittleman said.

“But after more than a year of fighting back against this unlawful and unprecedented gutting of a Congressionally created agency, we know that the will of the people, congressional intent, and the law is on our side,” she added.

Interagency agreements

The announcement came just days after the administration said the Treasury Department would take over Education’s responsibility for collecting on defaulted federal student loan debt — the first step in a multiphase process toward Treasury taking on Education’s entire, roughly $1.7 trillion federal student loan portfolio.

Prior to the agreement with Treasury, Education had announced nine other interagency agreements with the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Interior and State that transfer several of its responsibilities to those agencies.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court in July 2025 temporarily greenlit mass layoffs and a plan to dramatically downsize the Education Department ordered earlier that year.

That plan was outlined in a March 2025 executive order, where Trump called on McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure” of her own department.

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